Roger Hernandez
Wednesday, July 18, 2012Age: 37

Roger was on his his way to bring flowers to his girlfriend, was
struck and killed in a hit-and-run accident by a speeding drunk
driver in Sunnyside Wednesday night, according to NYPD.

He was just three blocks from home, traveling east
on Greenpoint Avenue at 10:45 p.m. when he was hit by the driver of a dark-colored
vehicle that was also heading east, police said. Roger landed on the hood but was thrown off because the driver did not stop.

Hernandez — who was carrying a bouquet, witnesses said — was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police arrested Alex Batista, 25, of Long Island City, on Thursday
night and charged him with manslaughter, vehicular manslaughter, leaving
an accident that resulted in death, DWI and unlawful possession of
marijuana.

The flowers Hernandez carried were for his new girlfriend, said his roommate of five months, Francis De La Cruz, 30.

It was the first time De La Cruz had ever known Hernandez to bring
someone flowers, he said through a translater. Hernandez used to joke
that he didn't need flowers to "get a girl," De La Cruz recounted.

Edwin Amado, 57, the super of the building next door to the victim,
said even though it was a new relationship, Hernandez was already
planning to fly his mother in from Honduras to introduce them.

"He just left his place 20 minutes earlier," he said. "He just wanted
to buy the flowers to do something nice for his girlfriend."

Amado said that Hernandez was the super of his own building and also did construction work.

"He's a very nice, very funny guy," he said. "Whenever I need something I just called and he would come over to help."

Bill Lindauer, 68, a next door neighbor agreed."He's a very friendly guy always with a smile on his face."

Friends of Hernandez were still reeling from the incident.

"This guy has no heart," De La Cruz said of the driver. "If he had a heart, he could have stopped and taken him to a hospital."

Officers in Woodside spotted an intoxicated Batista at 11 p.m. on
Wednesday lying next to a black Infinity that had struck a building at
58-16 Laurel Hill Blvd.

An investigation by the New York City Police Department's Highway
Patrol's Accident Investigation Squad later determined that the
intoxicated man was responsible for hitting the bicyclist and that the
Infinity was the car involved in the crime, police said.

Sunnyside Info reported that Batista was later arraigned on charges of Second Degree Manslaughter. They quoted Queens District
Attorney Brown who said, “This defendant’s decision to get behind the wheel
of a car while allegedly intoxicated is incomprehensible and cost an
innocent young man his life. Drinking and driving is never a good idea –
and all too often has deadly consequences. ”